Intervening Fate
by Blueberry-the-Belle
Summary: The daughter of Anubis, Keket, is sent to Seti's kingdom to study particular persons involved in what her father thinks is an evil conspiracy. While there, she meets all of the key players, including the infamous mummy, Imhotep, now very much flesh and blood. As the ancient proverb states, "One often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it." Will Keket be able to stop it?
1. Arrival

The tranquility of the desert, the soft, yet raging undertones of the ever shifting sands would be something Keket would recall for millennia to come. Being the daughter of Anubis, the guardian of the underworld and all its inhabitants, Keket was born and reared in the bright and ambiguous land of the gods. Nothing ever had a solid shape, materials simply formed at the will of the commander. He father preferred a dark and simple arrangement in his territory, a place that would give neither comfort nor fear to those he traveled with on the path to judgement. Gray walls, empty urns, cream ceilings to remind all who passed through of the separation from their mortal life, they were now with those who lived in the endless sky, and of course, the black cabinets that lined the walls like an endless library (Keket recalled that the style was Greek). These cabinets contained the lives of everyone that passed through his abode on the way to their counsel with Maat, Osiris, and Ammut. Those that were still under the watchful eye of Nut and Geb were kept on a writing desk, a quill and ink (notably British in its style, but her father always preferred dabbling in all available cultures and timelines) constantly writing the stories of the followers below. The only light source in his domain were small candles of tallow that burned dark and heavy, making the gray walls darker with the soot of their eternal burn.

Her Uncle Osiris, on the other hand, the actual ruler of the underworld, preferred a bright (perhaps overly so) existence. One that resembled Horus and his sun territory. Many gods and their offspring visited Osiris so he wanted it to be welcoming to all. White and green, the colors his favorite disciples decided to represent him with, decorated almost every available space. The fountain before the staircase leading into his chambers was an emerald green with white beings that appears to be flying children pouring water out of small urns. Keket thought it could have been Roman or Greek, not that she thought there was much of a difference between the two cultures, being that they were almost replicas of one another, even though her Uncle Thoth would have knocked her upside the head for making such an assumption. Her bird-headed uncle had his domain made almost entirely out of books and looking glasses, so he was never not in the know about the world below.

Each god had their own domain and Keket knew almost each and every one, except her grandfather Set, she didn't like being in there, much less around her uncle in general. He was a hateful one, especially after the fiasco with Uncle Osiris' body parts. Aunt Isis didn't speak to Set for almost 300 years she was so infuriated with him. Her father had told her once, under the influence of some Egyptian beer (his personal favorite), that Set always had something brewing in that strange looking head of his and Keket was wise not to spend too much time around him. Not that she wanted to anything, her grandfather's domain was dark, darker than her father's. Everything was covered in sand and blood splattered the walls, being that Set controlled storms and violence. The thing she hated the most was the clay wheel in the center of his chambers, with small ushabti, broken and disfigured, surrounding it on the floor. The scene screamed danger and evil. She tried to tell her father that something was afoot, but he paid her no mind, at least at first. It wasn't until she came home one day after practicing her powers with Baset that she found her father looking through his cabinets, something he never did.

"Father?"

He looked up as if he had been struck, his jackal eyes searching Keket as if he had never known her.

"Daughter of mine, I need to know," He went back to searching, this time frantically, "describe Set's world to me, every detail."

"But why, father of mine?" Anubis rarely spoke to his daughter on such a level, training her since her creation to deal with emotional distance since she would later take his place as the guardian of the dead.

"Because I fear the worst. One of my files is missing. The name is insignificant, but every name has its place."

Panic set in like a nasty wound in Keket's heart. The stealing of a file, a person's life story, is equivalent to blasphemy against Ptah, their one and only. Human life is reverent under his eyes and anything done to jeopardize it is punishable by a fate worse than death. Just as he brought the gods to life, he could take it away just as easily. Her father was placed with a heavy burden of managing all of the lives, living and dead, and the humans and lived under Ptah's watchful eye, for one to be missing was unimaginable.

"Ushabti scattered around a single clay wheel. The clay bodies were broken and morphed, the center of the chest missing in each other and looked as though thrown to the ground in anger. Father, I don't understand, what is Grandfather Set planning?"

In an unusual show of weakness, her father collapsed to the floor. Keket immediately ran to his aid, "Father?!"

His jackal head, soft to the touch with the jet black fur that coated his long and regal face, was placed in her lap, her blue, starry eyes searching for illness or injury. In all of her years, she had never seen her father as anything but strong and unwavering, a leader.

"Daughter, let me see you as you are."

Keket was at first confused but realized that her disguise was still on. Every god had to practice wearing a human disguise for their appearance to Ptah at their coronation and if they ever needed to go down to the human world. Keket's was of a simple Egyptian woman, black hair, tan skin, and deep, beautiful brown eyes. Focusing her magic, Keket allowed her true form to emerge, a young jackal, just as her father. Her fur was deep brown rather than her father's night black. She touched her muzzle to his and waited for him to calm down from the loss of the file. He would tell her what he needed from her in due time.

Once he was calm in the presence of his kin, he was able to move to a chair and inform his young daughter of his plan.

"Daughter, the implications of the missing file is dreadful if it should progress the way I fear." He sat back and closed his eyes, as if to visualize the carnage he predicted. "A human's file contains not only every detail of their lives, but also their essence, what makes them...them, in a sense. At the end of every completed file are the results of their judgement. Your Aunt Maat, Uncle Osiris, and Ammut all have input at the end, including the measurements of the heart against the feather. If a person's heart is too heavy, they could be annulled of their sins during a hearing, requested by myself or the accused. I often have to represent doctors that let their more genial and suffering patients pass into the night when they could have saved them." There was a pause as if the ancient god was reflecting on such cases. After a moment, he continued,

"Even when their sins are cleansed, the results are still printed in their file. Should anyone with ill intentions get ahold of such a file, they could consult the darker magics of our world into manifesting that essence into a ushabti, just as Ptah did during the Creation. They need the file though, it couldn't just be out of thin air, as it seems your grandfather attempted. The resulting being would be nothing but a shell, simply existing. With the essence, they could recreate the human, and even wipe their prior memories. I can only imagine the horrors your grandfather is planning." Anubis sat there quietly, brooding over what his own father was planning. It would be nothing but havoc for the humans. Foreboding ate away at his nerves like a scarab, hungry and relentless.

"Father, whose file did he steal?"

"Anuk-su-namun of Thebes."

Keket's eyes wondered over the seemingly endless dunes under the night sky. Nut had made sure that Keket would be protected by the dark of night when she arrived in Egypt. Although, she wasn't sure if she needed it as she couldn't see the entrance to Thebes anywhere, much less any sign of civilization.

'They must have dropped me here for a reason.' It was better to remain optimistic, at least that's what Aunt Hathor told her every time she was frustrated when a spell or medicine didn't work the way she wanted. Her family tended to know more than she did so she assumed that someone would find her or she would stumble upon something that would help on her journey.

As if on cue, Keket heard the soft plodding of equine hooves in the sand, a party had stopped and most likely spotted her.

'Here we go.' Taking a deep breath, something she didn't do in the realm of the gods, Keket turned around to address her new company.


	2. Negotiations

The travelers that happened upon Keket were dressed head to toe in black clothing, wide hats representing the palace twitching in the cold wind of the night. Thankfully, the moon was full tonight, illuminating the royal tattoos of Seti's Medjai and the broadsword that dangled from each hip of the riders. They were just as silent as she as they measured up the other, curious and wary. What Keket assumed to be the leader, for he had the most tattoos and two broadswords, along with several hidden knives, approached her on his horse, keeping a safe distance in case she herself was armed.

For a moment, Keket was worried about her own tattoos, the ones displaying her relation to Anubis, and the other for her devotion to her father's book, the Book of the Dead, which had a passage etched on her wrist. But then she remembered that the clothing she donned and the jewelry given to her by Ptah, who had wordlessly handed her a gold bracelet when she came to him for guidance. Her top covered her father's brand and the bracelet covered the passage, leaving her a simple peasant in the eyes of humans. She kept her guard up, for these men could be bandits while outside of the Pharoah's watchful gaze.

The leader spoke, "Girl, from where do you hail?" His voice was rough but not unpleasant, with deep baritones and an accent that originated long before the Egyptians settled.

"From a place unknown to the dwellers of these lands. I ask that you take me to your Pharoah." The Medjai seemed taken aback by her brazenness but turned toward his riders, "Asim, take her on your mare," He turned back to her, "We shall see what Seti thinks of you, girl." The term was spat at her feet, harsh and demeaning. Keket tried to not take offense and swallow her pride but her impression of Egypt was already souring. Another clothed rider, who she assumed to be Asim, strode beside her and with one hand, grabbed the back of her shirt and lifted her to sit in front of him on the large warhorse, who didn't even flinch with the extra weight. She shot a glare at the leader, but he wasn't looking at her. This was already turning out to be a terrible experience.

The ride to Thebes was made slowly but steadily. Horses don't have the same traction on sand as camels do, but for the sake of night patrol, the Medjai use horses. What Keket didn't know was that when she arrived, a brilliant light flashed over the land, bright as morning, and was gone just as quickly. The Medjai leader went out with his patrol to go investigate, seeing it as a sign from the gods. Whether it was an evil omen or a good one, he did not know. Now, with a seemingly innocent peasant girl as the only discovery, he was unsure what to think. Seti would know. It would be morning when they reached the palace, and he would be able to present the girl for his decision.

Thebes, an hour before dawn

The gates of the vast city were just starting to open when Keket and her party of escorts arrived. Ra's disk, pale and radiant, was just starting to peak over the dunes. Never before had she seen Ra's disk through the eyes of a mortal. The way its light caressed the sand was beautiful. It embraced everything and Keket watched as the darkness of mut was cast away for another day. She must have been staring for Asim followed her gaze, "Have you not seen the glory of Ra's disk, girl?" Unlike the leader, Asim was not rude when addressing her, he spoke as one would when they did not know your name. She turned to look at the man, his face hidden by the fabrics of his people that protected him from the sand, but his eyes, brown and deep, gazed back at her with honest curiosity. "No, Asim, not like this."

His hold on her tightened slightly, who was this strange woman. When she spoke his name, a sense of calm washed over him like nothing he had ever felt. This was no ordinary mortal. At that moment, Asim swore to watch over her. "What is your name, girl?"

Without looking at him, she answered, "Keket, strong Asim." Once more the wave of calm washed over him, an omen from the gods was the only explanation in his mind. He was destined for this moment when the gods would speak to him and show him the way. He would be damned to ignore the sign. His grip on the reigns and around her body tightened once more. Their respective ka bonded together in that moment, a goddess and her guardian.

They entered the city and it was as though a spell had been cast over her. Everywhere she looked, life was flourishing in the city of Thebes. Children, bare-chested and young, ran through the streets, their braids flying behind them like flags, begging for hedj while mongrel dogs followed joyfully after, for where there were children, there would be scraps. Merchants from upper and lower Egypt were setting up their wares on their carpets of various colors and threads, calling one and all to view their goods. The sights and smells of all the various foods, spices, and fabrics brought tears to her eyes. It was all so colorful and beautiful. Humans were so creative and gifted. Their ability to create from seemingly nothing was just a credit to the gifts bestowed to them by Ptah. She was beginning to understand her father's love for these beings.

Asim watched as Keket stared at the city dwellers of Thebes, her eyes darting to and fro, every sight and sound apparently new to her. He watched as a woodcarver approached his horse, holding a small wooden camel in his hand. "Pretty girl, take. Take and see." He had thrust it into her hand before Asim could do anything and was following her, asking for payment and trying to grab her. "Back in your place!" Asim gave the merchant a swift kick. He stumbled away but made no effort to return, for there were always more customers.

After ensuring that he would stay back, he turned his attention back to Keket, "Are you hurt?"

She only shook her head, so transfixed by the little carving that she was unable to speak. "People make things like this, Asim? For a living?" There was no judgement or disdain, only pure curiosity.

"Yes, they do. If people can make something of value to others, they will spend their whole lives honing their craft."

Hearing their chatter, the leader turned around, "Lock it up, Asim. Woman, do not try to sway my men with your feminine charms. They will not work!" Without waiting for an answer, he turned back around to inform the guard ahead of their destination. Keket's body went rigid but Asim only laughed, "Do not worry, Keket, he is only trying to save face within Seti's walls." She did not respond but relaxed in his arms.

The palace was monstrous in person. Huge columns of limestone lining the painted walls, decorated in hieroglyphs praising the gods and of Seti, their great and wise Pharaoh. Once more, Keket was transfixed with the abilities of the humans, the grace and the ingenuity. She still had the camel clutched in her hand, squeezing it as though it would spring to life and protect her from the giant building. The group stopped in front of the first archway, now having to dismount so as to not insult the gods or Seti. Asim dismounted first and then helped Keket off the large mare. Her legs crumbled from the lack of use and she fell into Asim's chest. The leader turned just at that moment and became enraged. "Woman! What did I tell you?!" He marched over to the pair only to have Asim move the girl out of the way and stand in front of him. "Please, she is fatigued. Common folk are not used to riding on horses for so long." The logic deflated his anger only slightly, but he couldn't have one of his men talking to him in such a way in his Pharaoh's palace. Before he could open his mouth though, the girl stepped in front of Asim and spoke first, "What is your name?"

Asim coughed in surprise but made no move to stop her. The leader simply looked down at this simple woman, curious as to how she was able to win over one of his men without the use of sexual favors or magic, as she was too simple looking to be a priestess. He answered her nonetheless, "Ardeth Bay."

The walk to Seti's chambers was full of the most beautiful furniture, paintings, foods, and people Keket had ever seen. She knew it was rude to stare so blatantly, but everything was so new and so vivid for the young goddess. Asim watched as they lead her to the throne room, Ardeth talking to their second in command, Kazemde, who was also the diplomatic advisor. By now, the Medjai had removed their protective fabrics and everyone's face was bare for Keket to study. Soon Asim found himself as the object of her intense gaze. He wasn't particularly handsome, with no beard or strong facial hair like his brethren, but he had a strong bone structure and broad shoulders to make up for what he lacked in his face. But, even with this, Keket's gaze was making him nervous, "Why do you stare at me so?"

She seemed to break out of a trace at the sound of his voice, "I was studying your face. Knowing your ba is one thing, but it's nice to put a face to your wisdom and kindness."

He would deny it if anyone said he blushed. By gods, she was a mystery. Unlike any woman he had ever met, which only endeared her to him further.

His smile dropped as they approached the archway to the Pharaoh's chambers, "Keket, be warned, the Pharaoh is a very powerful ruler. Do not make eye contact and follow my lead. Do not talk, Ardeth will do the talking for us."

She was about to protest at the absurdity but they were through the archway and she thought it best to heed his warning. There were guards everywhere and ready to obey at the snap of Seti's fingers, young girls and boys walked here and there, carrying bowls of figs, loaves of bread, honey, and jars of light beer as well as different pieces of furniture and even weapons. Seti's palace was bustling with energy and purpose.

Sitting on a gold chair, the twin heads of Horus and Osiris staring into her ka with such intensity, as though it was her family watching her every step, was the very man her father praised every day, Seti, Pharaoh of upper and lower Egypt. Behind him was a younger man she assumed to be his son Ramses, who had yet to grow into manhood, and a priest. Like a cobra attacking from the sand, a sense of foreboding shook Keket's mind but she could not figure out why.

"Ardeth Bay, leader of the Medjai, what do you bring me this fine morning?" The Pharaoh spoke with regal tones, enunciating every word and never speaking faster or slower than was necessary.

The leader of the group knelt low to the ground, spreading his hands out to cover his knees and as he paused, his warriors followed after, each spreading his hands out. Keket did the same, if not a bit clumsily. When everyone was kneeling, Ardeth stood once more and addressed Seti.

"My king, while patrolling the sands, we found a woman wandering the sands, alone. It is as Ra has willed that we have brought her here for your judgement." He turned and motioned for her to stand up. She walked slowly to stand beside the Medjai leader, all too aware of the Pharaoh's eyes raking over her.

A small smile graced Seti's lips, "Indeed you have. Tell me Ardeth, for what does she seem fit?"

Suddenly, his gaze turned from scrutiny to lechery and Keket was horrified. Was this the man her father spoke so fondly of? One that would take her into his harem simply due to her appearance? Her body went rigid beside his and as he turned to look over his warriors, he could see Asim shaking, his hands clenched into fists. Normally he wouldn't hesitate to offer a beautiful woman into his king's chambers, but a twisting in his gut, the one that told him how to attack or avoid war or even how to deal with aggressive peasants, told him that Seti's bed was not the right place for this girl.

"My king, if I may." Seti looked expectantly at him, "The White Lotus has requested another servant to help Manu in her duties." He bowed low afterward, not wanting to appear disrespectful in ignoring Seti's obvious desires. Keket watched the smile fall from Seti's face but Ramses leaned over and whispered in his father's ear, once more bringing the grin, slimy and unpleasant, back to the Pharaoh's aging features.

"Alright, Ardeth, but she must begin her work at once. See to it that she's informed of her duties to my precious lotus." With that, the group was dismissed.

Without thinking, Keket marched back to Asim's side, shaking with disgust and fear. He saw this but could not comment, for they were still in the presence of the king.

This was going to be a long journey.


End file.
